


No Man's Land

by nek0philia



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-03-08 16:11:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18898126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nek0philia/pseuds/nek0philia
Summary: Two years after the Eradication of the Hidden Villages that left thousands of shinobi dead across the world, those who remain are forced into hiding.





	No Man's Land

"It's not even noon." 

Yes, he was well aware of that. Yet, he saw no logical reason why the position of the sun had anything to do with his order for a glass of scotch. Besides, there wasn't much to do around here—that much he had figured out two months after he arrived in this humble fishing town. 

It's been more than a year since he found this place. 

"You know, the bartender at Anglers' Light is a lot nicer than you are, yeah," Deidara said before climbing onto the bar stool and settled his arms on the surface of the counter. 

The man behind the bar frowned. "Ain't that why you can't stand him?" 

"Just give me the damn scotch, Wika." 

Resigned, Wika the bartender reached up at the cabinet behind him and poured the blond a glass of scotch. Neat, because men in this town didn't need ice—because when you live in place where you spend most of the time getting splashed on by ocean water and blown away by untamed winds, you'd rather have something warm you up all the way. 

Wika slammed the glass on the surface of the bar with a little too much force and slid it towards Deidara. 

"Looks like you could use a drink yourself, yeah," said Deidara, raising an eyebrow at him. 

The bartender buried his face in his hand before letting his fingers run through messy brown hair that looked like it hadn't been washed properly in days. 

"Geizo's just been drivin' me crazy this morning," groaned Wika as he settled his weight on the low counter behind him. With arms folded across his chest, he spoke in a voice mocking his wife's. " _Did you clean out the bathroom yet? When are you going to start repairing the fence? Aren't you going to at least trim the lawn?_ " 

Deidara looked around exaggeratedly, making sure his friend was aware that the bar was emptier than a fisherman's bucket during the season of The Farthest Tide. 

"You know, aside from saving more money than you earn, shutting down this place would give you more time to help your wife out at home." 

Wika eyed him, not looking offended but as if he knew something his customer didn't. But then again, that was never not true. 

The bartender chuckled under his breath. "Hey, this place may be a dump but it makes a lot more money than you can imagine. Besides, I'm not closing up and let my best customer settle for the piss they serve at Anglers."

"So, that's a 'no' on helping out your wife at home," came Deidara's reply. 

"I was never very good at the cleaning. Anyway, Geizo can take care of stuff at home all by herself. It's her brother's cottage she wants fixed."

Aside from running the Late Night Catch, Wika and his wife made a living out of renting their old family houses to other locals, tourists, and even people like Deidara—the Hunted. 

Wika knew how to keep secrets as long as you paid what you were due. It is because of this that Wika was able to turn a pathetic fishing port into a decent town. The man lived off of secrets and those of Deidara's nature were the most expensive kind. 

It was fortunate enough that when the Eradication took place, he'd already put aside enough money from his stints as Akatsuki. Being that the town was a lot smaller than the villages and cities Deidara had seen in his past life, it didn't cost much to keep the bartender quiet about him for a long time. 

Compared to the amount he had handed Wika more than a year ago, Deidara still had enough left to shut him up for three more lifetimes. 

"About time you had that place rented out, yeah." 

The other man huffed. "I wish we had a long time ago. Probably wouldn't be as hard to fix up as it is now. She's expecting the tenant in a few days so she wants it fixed up in three days." 

Deidara downed the last of his drink and wiped his lips with the back of his hand as a thought crossed his mind. "Tell you what: If I finish repainting Kaiba's barn today, I'll try to help out with that fence tomorrow." 

"What's in it for you?" 

The man Deidara had been 12 months ago wouldn't have offered to lend a hand to anyone but things got dull real quick and he needed to redirect his usual destructive energy to alternative activities—preferably something that helped keep him in shape. 

But of course, the offer did not come without anything in return. It only took Wika a few weeks to realize it but Deidara always had something in return to ask. 

"You tell Midori I'm not interested in a relationship." 

The bartender didn't bother suppressing a groan as he reached for the glass his customer had just emptied. 

"You've slept with every unmarried woman here and I've broken up with all of them for you," he said, turning to the small sink in the bar to wash the glass. "This is a very small town, Deidara, and I think you've just about run out of single women to sleep with." 

"Yeah, well, not much to do here—work-wise and lady-wise," he drawled, beginning to grow bored of the conversation. "Just tell her I'm not the marrying type, yeah." 

The blond hopped off the bar stool and straightened up. Deidara easily counted his spare change and slammed them on the countertop. 

"I'm off," he said as he walked towards the door, the heels of his boots softly clicking on the wooden floors. "And then I'll think about my options now that there's no one left to sleep with in this place." 

"I wouldn't worry about that for too long," Wika called from the bar. "A new prospect is on its way so if you want to make a good impression, make sure you do a good job with those fences." 

Deidara halted in his steps and turned slightly. "You're going to let a woman live in that shithole of a house?" 

"Didn't seem like it mattered," Wika said as he grabbed a washcloth to dry the glass with. He turned back to Deidara and enjoyed the intrigue in the shinobi's eyes. "Geizo said she was just happy to find some quiet place to live—just like you were." 

"She's a—"

"Mm-hmm." 

It's been a long time since Deidara had met any shinobi who found this place. Even longer since he had seen a familiar face. 

The last person he had seen was a guy named Suigetsu, that prick Uchiha Sasuke's old pal. Suigetsu didn't stay very long in the town but it wasn't because he didn't have any money to pay his dues.

He was a prick, even Deidara could say, and the townspeople all agreed it would be best to turn him in. Hunters paid a good amount for him and the town feasted all week long with the money they were paid.

Wika turned away to place the glass in the dish rack. "Meet me at the cottage at 9 tomorrow morning." 

"And if I don't?" 

The bartender raised an eyebrow at Deidara. "I know where you live, Deidara. I'll barge right in." 

Deidara chuckled before waving a hand.

He had a whole barn to finish repainting by tonight and he'd rather get a decent amount of rest before working on that ugly cottage. It wasn't a favor in service of Wika—Deidara was actually doing it for himself. 

After more than a year of living across that dingy old house, he was glad he could do something to improve the view from his bedroom window. 


End file.
